《TAIPEI TIMES》 Taisugar halts imports of coffee from Honduras

/ Staff writer, with CNA

State-run Taiwan Sugar Corp （Taisugar） on Sunday said it would no longer import coffee from Honduras, in light of the country’s decision to switch diplomatic recognition to China.

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Taisugar said it still had 20 to 30 tonnes of Honduran coffee in stock, which it expects to sell by the end of the month, after which it would stop importing coffee from the Central American country.

It would instead explore importing coffee from Guatemala and other countries with diplomatic ties with Taiwan, it said.

Honduras on March 26 announced on Twitter that it had formally cut ties with Taiwan to establish diplomatic links with the People’s Republic of China.

Taisugar established an office in Honduras in 2018 to help boost the country’s coffee industry, in accordance with Taiwan’s diplomatic policies, but the state-run company said it would close that office and withdraw from Honduras in light of the diplomatic split.

Since 2017, Taisugar has been importing coffee produced by small farmers in the mountains of Honduras, which created annual revenue of about NT$30 million （US$985,092） for the company, some of which has been donated for the construction of schools in Honduras, it said.

Taisugar has been promoting the product through a special joint program with Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp, which sells passengers specialty coffee from small Honduran farms in the first week of every month.

The severance of diplomatic ties with Honduras is not likely to significantly affect Taiwan’s coffee market, an analyst said yesterday.

“Honduran coffee accounts for only a small share of Taiwan’s coffee market, and the product is used mainly for coffee blends here,” said Bess Wu （吳御甄）, a senior sales manager at Ergos Coffee Trading Co, which imports coffee from Honduras.

While there might be a decline in business related to Honduran coffee in the wake of the split, that trend is unlikely to last long, Wu said.

“If Honduran coffee was to disappear from the Taiwan market, it would be because of commercial competitiveness rather than diplomatic issues,” she said.

Taiwan imported NT$3.3 million of coffee from Honduras last year, which accounted for 1.69 percent of total coffee imports, Ministry of Finance data showed.

Coffee imports from Guatemala last year totaled NT$23.1 million, which was 11.9 percent of total coffee imports and the largest percentage from any of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, the data showed.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES